Who Knows How Long I've Loved You
by demon891
Summary: *Beta Version* An A/T fic in which they are already married and Ryoko is out wandering alone
1. Here, There and Everywhere

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and all of the characters in it are property of AIC and Pioneer. I am not making any money off of this fanfic. Please don't sue me because I have nothing to give. The title is taken from the song 'I Will' from the Beatles White Album and is property of whoever owns it now. This fic is based on the OAV universe, if you are mad that Kiyone is in it tough. All of the chapter titles are taken off of Beatles titles and are property of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. This story is probably full of spelling and grammar errors, which is why I am posting it in the first place. If you could please send me an email telling me if you see a error or read through the whole fic and fix all the errors you see and send me a corrected copy, thank you to anyone who takes the time to do this. Well here with go with chapter 1!  
  
Who Knows How Long I've Loved You  
  
*Beta Version*  
  
"Here, There and Everywhere"  
  
  
  
"Ayeka," Tenchi said laughing. "Watch yourself or you'll slip!" Tenchi watched her as she walked along the wet dock in the lake.  
  
"Oh don't worry about me Tenchi, I know what I'm..." she slipped and fell into the lake. Tenchi laughed to himself and then went over to help her up out of the water. He waited a few seconds before her head surfaced. He reached his hand down to help her up. She took his hand and coughed up some water. "Thank you Tenchi," she smiled.  
  
He smiled back. "It was nothing."  
  
Ayeka sighed as she leaned her head on Tenchi's shoulder as they watched the sunset. They had gotten married a few days ago now and were on their honeymoon. The wedding was surprisingly a small one with only a few people attending. Sasami and Yosho were there of course, along with, Washu, Mihoshi, Kiyone, Noboyuki, Queen Misaki, Queen Funaho and the *great* King Azusa. The only one who had been absent was...Ryoko. Ayeka couldn't blame her for not being there, she had taken the news pretty hard and Ayeka couldn't really truthfully tell herself that Ryoko was going to come out of it okay. She tried to push that thought from her mind as the last slivers of sun gave way to the darkness of night. Ayeka felt the wind blowing over her face so she curled up closer to Tenchi. Tenchi noticed this and looked down at her.  
  
"Do you want to go back to the house?" Tenchi asked her softly. "We can try out the hot tub if you'd like." He smiled at her.  
  
She answered. "I'd love to Tenchi."  
  
They could hear the crickets chirping in the background as they walked back up the hill to the house that they had rented. Misaki had told them that they could use any of the royal families palaces for there honeymoon, but they had decided to rent a small house in upstate Vermont. They didn't really know any English but that wasn't really a problem thanks to the great Washu. She was able to make them little chips that could be inserted into their ears. This translated everything they heard and also transmitted a signal to their brains to let them speak perfect English without an accent at all.  
  
Ayeka leaned her head on Tenchi's shoulder as they walked up the trail. He just smiled. It had been over a year and a half since these women had come into his life. He had been through so much with all of them and he didn't want to make he decision before he was sure what it was. In the end he had chosen Ayeka but that didn't mean that he didn't love the others. He loved them all so much and it hurt him to have to choose between them. He tried not to think about it much and to enjoy the time he was spending with his wife. They got to the top of the hill and then to the front door of the house. Tenchi turned the door open and they walked in the front room of the house. The house had a few bedrooms in it, a TV and a small kitchen. They had to get use to the American style of life for a little while. Ayeka sat down at one of the kitchen chairs while Tenchi went to make some tea for the both of them. She looked out the window and all she could see were endless woods. The lake at which they were staying was called Echo Lake and there were quite a few houses along its shores but most of the houses were covered up with trees and could not been seen. Down at the lake there were a few boats that they were allowed to use including a rowboat, sail boat, two kayaks and a canoe. Tenchi sat down at a chair placing a cup of tea in front of Ayeka.  
  
"So, are you enjoying yourself?" Tenchi asked smiling.  
  
She took a sip and then replied. "Yes I am having a wonderful time, this was a great idea that your father had."  
  
"Yes, it certainly was," Tenchi remembered how he had a friend in the United States and how she had a house up on a lake. It was a little place but it was all they needed. Washu had installed a portal in one of the closets of the house just in case there was an emergency and they needed to get back home quickly. "So what would you like to do now?" Tenchi asked looking up at her.  
  
She thought for a moment. "I would very much like to watch whatever movie you brought for us."  
  
Tenchi smiled, he was glad that she had said that. Its what he was thinking to. There was only one thing better that Tenchi could think of than being with Ayeka. Being with Ayeka while watching a James Bond movie.  
  
"I would love to," Tenchi smiled at her. For this particular occasion he had decided to bring one of his favorites, Goldfinger. The room where the TV was located was added on to the building recently so there was actually a window looking into the room. There was a bed in this room, and two reclining chairs. Ayeka sat down on the bed as Tenchi placed the tape in the VCR and then joined Ayeka on the bed. He laid back against the many pillows on the bed. Ayeka then leaned back against him as he wrapped his arm around her. The opening scene of the movie appeared on the TV and Ayeka curled up closer to her beloved Tenchi. They looked at each other and smiled then kissed. Ayeka had been waiting for what seemed forever for this to happen. She felt happier than she had ever felt in her life. They just lay there watching the great James Bond and enjoying the closeness they were finally able to share. It was a warm night and all the windows in the house were open, the crickets could be heard chirping in the background of the various explosions from the movie. The night was peaceful and in their minds it couldn't be any better.  
  
Back at home however; things were not going so well. Ryoko had not been seen since the day before the wedding took place. Washu wasn't as worried as one might think though. Tenchi had told her before he had told Ryoko and she knew that Ryoko was going to be deeply hurt. But she still had her link with her daughter and that let her know that she hadn't done anything to drastic. Tenchi had talked to Ryoko and told her that she loved her very much to but that it was as a friend, the best friend he could ever have and that he would hate to lose her. She had taken the initial news pretty hard but she had started to realize that Tenchi still cared about her a great deal and that it would be a crime against him and herself to do something horrible to herself. She had cried a great deal though and was hardly seen around the house. Washu guessed that she would need a good amount of time alone to collect her thoughts. Mihoshi and Kiyone had been hanging around the house for a while now cause they had a little *accident* at their apartment. Sasami had started taking swordplay lessons from Yosho in the past few weeks so she could defend herself if needed be. As for Washu, with Tenchi and Ayeka gone for a week she was forced to do twice as many chores around the house than she usually did. Tenchi and Ayeka would be coming home in two days now so things would resume as they were before they left. Washu looked at the clock on the wall of her laboratory and saw that it was time for her to go and sweep the steps. She set the projects she was working on, on automatic and walked out of the lab. As she opened her door she heard her name being called out.  
  
"Little Washu!" she looked towards the entrance of the house and saw Sasami standing there. Washu guessed that she had just come back from sword practice with Yosho because of what she wore and the great amounts of sweat on her body.  
  
"Hello Sasami," she greeted. "How was practice?"  
  
Sasami rested her bokken on the rack hanging on the wall. "It went well, but now I must get started on dinner." She ran off into the kitchen. Washu watched her go. Dinner would be awfully quiet tonight. Aside from the fact that Ryoko was missing and Tenchi and Ayeka were in the US, Mihoshi and Kiyone were on patrol during the dinner hours tonight. It would only be Sasami, Noboyuki, Yosho, Ryo-ohki whom Ryoko had not taken with her when she left and Washu.   
  
Washu sighed as she made her way to the bottom of the great staircase that lead to the Masaki Shrine. She then realized that she had forgotten to bring the broom along. She chastised herself for her mistake but opened a dimensional hole and pulled a broom from it.  
  
"Hahaha! I truly am the greatest!" she crackled to herself. She started to sweep the steps of she shrine. She looked at the sun that was beginning to set over the mountains. It had turned a deep shade of red as it slowly gave way to night. As she reached the top steps of the staircase the last bit of light was fading from the sky.  
  
"Good evening Little Washu," she heard a voice behind her. She instantly knew who it was and turned to meet him.  
  
"Good evening Lord Yosho," she said softly. The both watched as the stars began to appear in the sky. After a while of silence Yosho decided to speak up.  
  
"Ryoko stopped by the other day," he said calmly. Washu's eyes opened wide but then she calmed down.  
  
"What did she tell you?" she whispered not looking at the man standing next to her.  
  
"That she was going to take some time and travel to places on the earth though she did not say why," he responded.  
  
Washu nodded. "It'll probably do good for her to get out and take a look at all the other things on this planet. This world is very unique in the scope of the galaxy. There are only a handful of planets that are considered pre-contact and even less still that are not ruled by one government. I consider myself very lucky to be living here."  
  
"Oh, you do?" he said.  
  
"Yes, I do. Not maybe people get to experience things as they once were in the galaxy. But in many ways this place is more civilized than even Jurai. I enjoy living here, it's a peaceful place to live."  
  
Yosho nodded at that. "Those are some of the reasons that I did not return to Jurai. I was overtaken by the beauty of this place and all that it had to offer." Then looked down upon the valley that spread out in front of them. They saw headlights moving into the valley.  
  
"It looks like Lord Noboyuki is home," Washu stated.  
  
Yosho just nodded. "Sasami probably has dinner ready by now, we should probably head down to the house." Washu agreed and they made their way down to the Masaki residence.  
  
"So how is Sasami doing with the sword," Washu asked as they walked.  
  
"She is improving steadily and is showing much enthusiasm, just as Tenchi once did," he replied.  
  
She laughed a little bit. "You mean Tenchi was actually *enthusiastic* at one point?"  
  
"Yes, he used to be very enthusiastic about his sword fighting when he was younger, but I guess he has lost some of that over time. But that doesn't mean that he is going to get off easy now just cause he's married," Yosho explained.  
  
They reached the bottom of the stairs and then made their way to the house. When they got inside Sasami and Noboyuki were already sitting down at the table ready to eat. Yosho immediately went and joined them but Washu went to the bathroom to clean herself up a bit first. When she was done she went out and joined the others for dinner. Dinner was quiet; there was no longer the constant fighting for Tenchi's attention by Ryoko and Ayeka, no longer the sound of Kiyone telling Mihoshi to be quiet, no more of Washu showing off her latest invention that usually went up in flames and there was no longer the energy that once existed.  
  
"So," Washu began trying to start some conversation. "Does anyone know when Mihoshi and Kiyone said they would be back?"  
  
Sasami spoke up next. "I think Kiyone said they would be back sometime tonight."  
  
"Well I brought back something for us to waste the rest of the night away with," Noboyuki announced.  
  
"What is it?" Sasami asked. He got up from his seat and pulled something out of a bag. "James Bond 007, The Spy Who Loved Me!!!" Everyone facefaulted. That was the one thing that Tenchi and his father had in common...their love for James Bond movies. Everyone filed into the family room and sat down on the couch as Noboyuki slipped the DVD into the new DVD player that they had recently purchased. Washu had insisted that they let her make one, but they had decided against it. They all were all ready to watch the movie and...nothing happened.  
  
"Hmmm, wonder what the problem is," Noboyuki got up and started to mess around with the wires and switches on the back. Nothing happened the screen was still the blue color that I had been before. He then noticed that a few of the wires had been cut. He pulled up the few wires that hand been cut and held them up.  
  
"Alright, who's responsible for this?" everyone sat and looked at the wires. They all looked at each other trying to figure out who did it. Everyone's eyes eventually fell on Washu.  
  
"What! Why is everyone looking at me it was, it was Ryo-ohki!" Ryo-ohki miya'd and looked up from her carrot. Washu looked around and noticed that people weren't buying it. She stood up like she was ready to give a speech. She cleared her throat and began. "Well I learned that the DVD player that we had acquired was...uhh...NOT FUNCTIONAL! Yea it wasn't functional so I decided that I would replace it with..." she reached into her back pocket. "THIS!!!"  
  
In her hand she held the craziest looking DVD player they had ever seen along with 15 surround sound speakers.   
  
"Little Washu?" Sasami asked.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"How did you fit that all in your pocket?" she asked innocently.  
  
"That's not what's important. What's important is that we now have the most advanced DVD player in the universe! Mwahahaha!"  
  
The room was silent...still silent.  
  
It was about then when a sound was heard from above. At first it was soft and low, but it started to get louder. Washu then realized just what it was.  
  
"Everyone to my lab! Quickly!" It was too late. Before they could get to the lab the entire house was enveloped in a flash of red. When the smoke and dust cleared all that was left of the house was the door, which leads to Washu's lab. Yosho was the first to come up from the debris and then he walked over to help Sasami up. Washu was next followed by: Noboyuki, Kiyone and finally Mihoshi.  
  
Yosho looked at the debris at his feet. He raised his hand to his chin. "This is quite a mess..."  
  
Mihoshi paused from brushing the plaster out of her hair. "Yes it is, how long has the house been like this?" Everyone face faulted.  
  
Washu cracked many parts of her body and then motioned for everyone to follow her. "Comon, you can spend the night in my lab."  
  
Noboyuki looked behind him and saw the first signs of the sun. He sighed and walked into the lab.  
  
The first rays of light pierced through the window and shone right into Tenchi's eyes. He blinked a few time, then opened his eyes. He felt something warm pressed up against him. Looking down he saw his wife, Ayeka, holding onto him for dear life. He smiled and rested his head back down on the pillow. She moved to be even closer to him and made a few quiet moans. He reached his arm around her and pulled her even closer. He thought to himself about the night before. He really *did* want to be with her for the rest of his life. He closed his eyes as sleep overtook him once again.  
  
He awoke again, but this time to the smell of breakfast. He looked down and saw Ayeka was gone. Sitting up in the bed he saw Ayeka through the glass window that looked into the kitchen. She was at the stove cooking something apparently. Tenchi knew that Sasami had been giving her cooking lessons lately so he was hoping that they had paid off. He slowly got out of bed and stretched his muscles a bit before making his way to the kitchen. He snuck up behind her and then gave her a kiss on the neck. She jumped a little and then turned to face him.  
  
"Good morning sleepyhead," she said with a smile on her face.  
  
"Good morning..." he was cut off as she gave him a little peck on the lips. He smiled and looked down at the stovetop. "What's for breakfast chef?"  
  
She gave a little laugh then responded. "Beacon and eggs. I hope you're hungry."  
  
"You bet I am," he walked over and sat down at the small table and turned on the TV. The house had two TV's but it didn't have cable, so all they picked up were the news channels and a few Canadian channels because they were only about twenty minutes from the border. There was a local news station on and they were showing the weather report for the new few days. "Well, it looks like were are going to be having some thunder storms today."  
  
Ayeka walked over to the table with two plates in her hand, setting one down in front on Tenchi and the other in front of her spot at the table.  
  
"Oh..." she whispered in somewhat of a daze.  
  
He looked up from the TV to see she had a worried look on her face. He got a grin on his face. "You aren't scared of thunderstorms are you?"  
  
She looked back down at him. "Of-Of course I'm not. What's there to be scared of."  
  
He smiled. He was having a feeling that this was going to be an interesting day indeed.  
  
The rain was pouring down and the sky was black with night. A girl could be seen wandering aimlessly around the streets of Paris tonight. She wore a black overcoat and a black hat. She has been walking around the streets for quite sometime before she finally came upon the building where she was staying the night. It was a little bread and breakfast inn along the river. She opened the door, got her key from the woman working at the desk and then made her way up to her room. Upon opening the door to her room she threw her coat and hat onto the floor revealing a woman who appeared to be around the age of twenty. She had sly golden eyes and a mess of cyan on her head. She walked over to a hanger and pulled a towel off of it to dry herself with. When she was done she replaced the towel from where she had got it and then made her way over to the bed. She jumped onto the bed and starred up at the ceiling. A new wetness had formed on her face, this time it wasn't from the rain, but instead from her own tears.  
  
"...Tenchi..."  
  
  
  
Authors Notes: Well that's it for chapter 1. I have been working on this chapter for months now and its not even very long is it...Well I guess I haven't been in a Tenchi mood lately, but do not fear. I will start chapter 2 soon, I promise.  
  
Send C&C to  
  
Demon_891@yahoo.com 


	2. Here Comes The Sun

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and all of the characters in it are property of AIC and Pioneer. I am not making any money off of this fanfic. Please don't sue me because I have nothing to give. The title is taken from the song 'I Will' from the Beatles White Album and is property of whoever owns it now. This fic is based on the OAV universe, if you are mad that Kiyone is in it tough. All of the chapter titles are taken off of Beatles titles and are property of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. This story is probably full of spelling and grammar errors, which is why I am posting it in the first place. If you could please send me an email telling me if you see a error or read through the whole fic and fix all the errors you see and send me a corrected copy, thank you to anyone who takes the time to do this. Here's chapter 2...  
  
Who Knows How Long I've Loved You  
  
*Beta Version*  
  
"Here Comes The Sun"  
  
The sky was beginning to turn shades of gray and the wind was picking up. Ayeka and Tenchi sat on the couch in the living room of the small cottage and watched the storm roll in. Tenchi could feel that Ayeka's muscles were tense.  
  
"There's no reason to be afraid," he said softly.  
  
"I'm-I'm not afraid," she said just before the first clap of thunder. She then gave a small squeak and jumped onto Tenchi's lap. He just smiled. "Well...maybe a little."  
  
Tenchi remembered that there was a ping-pong table down in the basement; he had seen it when they first got here. It probably needed a little maintenance but it wasn't something he couldn't handle. "I have and idea," he said. "Why don't we go setup that old ping-pong table to get your mind off the storm."  
  
She looked up at him. "That's sounds like a good idea," she said just before another crack of thunder shook the house.  
  
They then went down stairs to find a good place to setup the table. After about 5 minutes and a little duct tape, Tenchi had got the thing setup and ready to play.  
  
"Now do you know how to play?" he asked her.  
  
"I'm pretty sure I do," she replied.  
  
Tenchi didn't start out to hard so he gave a nice lofty serve to her side. And then...WHACK! The ball nailed Tenchi's side of the table and bounced off it hitting the wall behind him.  
  
"Did I get a point Tenchi?" she asked.  
  
Tenchi could only stare. "Uh, yea...yea you did."  
  
She jumped up and down full of content with herself.  
  
Tenchi then pick up the ball off of the ground and brought it up to serve it again. He hit it over the net putting backspin on it this time. When Ayeka went to hit the ball instead of going flying over the net it went speeding into it.  
  
"Damn..." she said to herself. "Tenchi, I hit it just like last time, why didn't it go over the net?" she asked him.  
  
He then explained to her about the different kinds of spin that can be put on the ball and how they affect it when the ball is hit. Ayeka then asked him about all the different ways to hit the ball and by the time he was done explaining the storm was over. He looked out the window and saw blue sky and the sun.  
  
"Hey Ayeka?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Would you like to go out for a ride in the sail boat? The storm is over."  
  
She looked out the window seeing that he was right. "I would love to!"  
  
The sun was just now rising over the river Seine in the beautiful city of Paris. A ray of sun shot through the third floor window of a small bed a breakfast in along the river. It shone on the face of a beautiful young woman who lay on her bed. By looking at her face you could easily tell that she had cried herself to sleep. Clothes were thrown all over the room and the windows were wide open. The floor in front of the window was soaking wet from the rain last night.  
  
The girls' eyes started to open and she blinked a few times before sitting up in her bed. She looked around the room with a blank look on her face at all of the clothes in various places. She got off the bed and walked around the room picking up the various articles of clothing off the floor. She took them all and placed them in a bad that she had brought with her. These were the only things that she had brought along with her. When she had gotten all of her things together she walked over to the window and looked out upon the morning scene. The birds were chirping and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The girl wanted to be able to smile at the beautiful city but was unable too. Her heart was too full of grief. A lone tear ran down her face as she turned from the window and walked out of the door. She walked down the staircase to the front desk leaving the key in the hand of the attendant.  
  
"Merci et ayez un beau jour!" the lady at the desk said to her. Ryoko had no idea what it meant so she put on a fake smile and waved her hand to the woman.  
  
She walked down the streets of Paris alone. Her destination was the airport so she could take a plane to the USA. She didn't bring Ryo-oki along because she knew that Sasami would miss her. She saw the airport not to far away from where she was. She could have easily teleported to it but she instead decided to walk. She walked with blank face not really caring what was going on around her. She had been like this for a while now ever since...She was now at the entrance to the airport. She walked through the gate and to the main complex.  
  
After going through security and everything else you have to go through at airports today; she made her way to the plane that she was to ride to the USA. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she looked up at them  
  
'Here we go..." she thought to herself as she walked up the stairs into the plane.  
  
Kiyone was the first to arise from her *bed* or her sleeping bag on the floor of Washu's lab. She blinked her eyes a few times and then sat up. She realized that she was hungry as hell and was about to go to the kitchen when she remembered what happened last night. She figured that Washu must have some kind of food in this lab because sometimes she was in here for days strait without ever coming out. She walked around the lab trying to find a refrigerator or somewhere where food might be kept.  
  
"My, you're up bright and early Kiyone," she spun around to see Washu standing behind her. "Looking for something?"  
  
"I was just looking to see if you hand any food cause I'm really hungry," Kiyone replied.  
  
Washu brought up her holotop and began to type on it. "Of course I have food, but I store it in subspace so you woulda never found it." A few seconds later portals opened up and Washu reached up in two of them and started feeling around. She pulled out some milk and cereal. "Will this do?"  
  
Kiyone nodded as Washu handed her the milk, cereal, a bowl and a spoon.  
  
"And you can sit at this table," she reached up into one of the portals with both hands and pulled out a poker table and a chair and placed them on the floor.  
  
"Thanks Washu," Kiyone sat down and poured cereal and milk in her bowl and started to eat it.  
  
Sasami was the next one to wake up. She got up out of her sleeping bag and stretched out her arms. She saw Washu typing on her holotop and Kiyone eating on a nearby table. She walked over to Washu.  
  
"Good morning Little Washu," she said.  
  
Washu turned to meet her. "Good morning Sasami, how are you feeling?"  
  
"I'm fine. But what are we going to do about the house?" she asked.  
  
"I can take care of that, don't worry about it. I'll have a new one up in no time," Washu replied. Washu typed a few more things on her holotop as Sasami walked over to where Kiyone was. Suddenly a portal opened up and Washu pulled out a miniature house. She got up and brought the house with her. She opened the door that leads to where the Masaki house was supposed to be and she went out it; a few seconds later she came back into the lab.  
  
She cracked her fingers. "Well, the house is back up."  
  
"Well I'll go make breakfast then!" Sasami said running past Washu and out the door.  
  
Kiyone got up from where she was sitting. "Well I'm going to check and see if any of our ship is still out there anywhere.  
  
"Good huntin" Washu said.  
  
As Kiyone walked out the front door or the house she nearly fell into a giant hole.  
  
"What the hell!?" she screamed grabbing onto the ledge.  
  
Sasami came running. "Kiyone, are you alright?" She looked out the front door at the crater that was in between the house and the lake. At the bottom of the hole, part of the ship that was once the Yagami was sticking out of the dirt.  
  
Kiyone pulled herself up. "I'm gonna go see if Washu can do anything about this hole..." Sasami looked out into it for a little longer and then went back to the kitchen.  
  
Kiyone walked into Washu's lab and tapped on her shoulder. Washu turned around to meet her.  
  
"Hi Kiyone, is there something I can do for you?"  
  
"Well I was wondering if you could do anything about the giant crater before we have another lake in front of the house."  
  
Washu looked up from the computer. "Yea, I think I could figure something out. Why don't we go see what we can do about it" She got up and walked out of the lab with Kiyone following closely behind.  
  
Washu opened the front door and looked at the giant hole in the ground.  
  
"Now lets see what we can do about this..." Washu said.  
  
A few minutes later Washu was still standing there rubbing her chin.  
  
"Well have you thought of anything let Washu?" Kiyone asked.  
  
"...No"  
  
Kiyone shook her head. "It's going to be a long day."  
  
Ayeka and Tenchi had just reached the center of the lake in their small sailboat. Tenchi had learned how to steer sailboats when he was younger so they were doing just fine. It had turned out to be a wonderful day, the sun was out and there was a nice breeze. Both of them were having a wonderful time.  
  
"Do you want to give it a try?" he said looking at Ayeka who had been in control of the rudder.  
  
"No, that's alright. I think I'd tip up," she said with a smile.  
  
Suddenly the wind picked up and they started speeding off in one direction. Tenchi looked up into the sky and saw some black clouds coming over the mountains.  
  
"Ayeka, a storms blowing in. We need to get back to shore," Tenchi said to her.  
  
"Ummm..." she said noticing that they were facing in the wrong direction.  
  
Tenchi walked back to where she was sitting. "Let me have the rudder and keep your head low, this thing is going to be swinging back and forth."  
  
Ayeka gave up control of the ship to Tenchi and got out of his way. A large crack of thunder echoed throughout the valley a few seconds later. Tenchi was having trouble keeping the boat pointed back to the dock because the water was beginning to get rough and the winds were really blowing. Then the inevitable happened, rain started to pour down on them. It was starting to fill up the little hole in the boat quickly.  
  
"Ayeka! Try to get the water out of the boat if you can," Tenchi yelled over another crack of thunder. Ayeka complied and started to splash as much water as she could over the side of the boat with her hands.  
  
Tenchi was starting to get frustrated with this wind. Every time he would position himself in the right direction another gust of wind would come along and blow them off course. He finally got them close enough to the shore so that he could pull out a paddle for the rest of the way. He quickly brought the sail down and pulled out the rudder. They reached the dock and Ayeka hopped out of the boat onto the small wooden ramp. When Tenchi had tied to boat to a nearby tree he got out of the boat and walked in the water to where Ayeka was.  
  
"Come on, let's get back to the house," he said to Ayeka taking her hand. Just then a lightning bolt hit the middle of the lake. They quickly made their way back to the house where they were staying. When they walked in the front door they were soaking wet.  
  
"Well, since we're already wet why don't we go into the hot tub?" Ayeka stated.  
  
"That sounds like an excellent idea," he said pulling her into a kiss.  
  
They both went downstairs together but Tenchi went to the room with the hot tub in it to set it up and Ayeka went into their room to change out of her wet clothes. When Ayeka walked into the room where Tenchi was they were both already in towels. Ayeka slowly slipped off her towel and stepped into the bubbling water. A light red had appeared on Tenchi's face but then he followed suit.  
  
The clouds, they were nothing new to her, but she had never been up in them. She had flown up and down through them before but never inside of them. As she looked out the window she thought about where she was going. Washu had told her that on the list of the best places to live in the galaxy The United States of America on the small backwater planet of Earth had taken the #1 spot. A stewardess came up too the seat where Ryoko was sitting.  
  
"Hello, is there anything that I can get you?" she asked Ryoko. Ryoko was in a daze looking out the window. "Miss?" Ryoko heard her.  
  
"What?" Ryoko responded turning to her.  
  
"Is there anything that I can get you?" she asked again  
  
"Uhh...Do you have sake?" Ryoko asked.  
  
"Yes we do."  
  
"I'll have some of that then," Ryoko said.  
  
"Alright, I'll be back in a moment."  
  
Ryoko thanked the woman then looked out the window. She could see a storm in the distance, and suddenly began to think of what planet Ayeka and Tenchi might have gone to for their honeymoon. She could think of quite a few lovely locations that they could be staying at. She didn't hate either of them and was happy for them it just hurt like hell. She tried to clean her mind and turned to see the stewardess coming back.  
  
"Here you are," the woman said handing Ryoko the bottle.  
  
"Thank you," Ryoko said as she walked away.  
  
Ryoko thought that she would see what movie they were showing. She turned on her TV just as the movie was starting. The movie showing was Rambo First Blood. She had never seen this move before so she decided to watch it.  
  
Ayeka and Tenchi got out of the hot tub and then went back to their room to change into new clothes. They both then walked upstairs to check the weather channel to see if there were going to be any more storms. They wanted to have a cookout down by the lake tonight and were hoping for a dry night. The rest of the night looked like it was going to be nice. They put all the food that they were going to need into a cooler and packed it into the car that Noboyuki had gotten Tenchi as a wedding present. Tenchi then went into the garage and found the grill and packed it into the trunk of the car. Then they both got in it and drove down the trail a bit till they couldn't go any farther. Ayeka got the cooler out of the backseat of the car and Tenchi got the grill out of the trunk. They both walked down to the picnic table and set up everything. They were going to be grilling ribs tonight. Neither of them have ever had ribs, but they heard that they were good. Ayeka decided to go take a quick swim while Tenchi was cooking the ribs.  
  
"Ayeka! The food is ready!" Tenchi yelled to her.  
  
"Alright, be there in a minute!" she yelled back.  
  
When she got up out of the water she grabber her towel and dried herself off. Then she walked over to where Tenchi was with the ribs. She took some from him and started eating. He then got his own and sat down across from her. They ate their food and talked a little bit about future plans.  
  
When they were done eating they decided to go out and watch the sunset in the rowboat. They both got in it and Tenchi rowed it out to the center of the lake. When they got there Ayeka rested her head on Tenchi's shoulder and he put his arm around her.  
  
"It's beautiful," Ayeka said looking out at the orange and read sky.  
  
"Yes, it certainly is," Tenchi turned and kissed her as the sun set behind the mountains.  
  
Authors Notes: A little shorter than the last chapter but all around I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  
  
As always...  
  
Send C&C to  
  
demon_891@yahoo.com 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and all of the characters in it are property of AIC and Pioneer. I am not making any money off of this fanfic. Please don't sue me because I have nothing to give. The title is taken from the song 'I Will' from the Beatles White Album and is property of whoever owns it now. This fic is based on the OAV universe, if you are mad that Kiyone is in it tough. All of the chapter titles are taken off of Beatles titles and are property of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

This is another version of chapter two that I had started and didn't finish...I'll post it up for now and I will let you know that I know that it has been 2 ½ years since I last did anything with this fic. So I am finally coming back to it and working on chapter 3, it should probably be up sometime this week...

Who Knows How Long I've Loved You

"A Day In The Life"

The sun rose that morning in the city of Paris and shone into the window of a small bed and breakfast that was along the Seine. The rays of light were broken and warped as they entered the room on the top floor through the old, dusty windows. A girl seemingly in her twenty's lay motionless on the bed, her hair still wet from the previous nights rain. She slept with a painful look on her face, the face of rejection. She turned over in the bed and this caused the blanket that was covering her naked body to fall onto the floor. She then shivered and curled herself up into a ball as the nightmares entered her mind once again. The cold morning air blew through the cracks in the old inn and over her body which caused her to shiver once again. Tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as the sun shone on here and saved her from the terrors of her sleep.

She shot up. "Tenchi..."

The girl walked down the stairs of the inn after taking a shower and dressing into her still wet clothes. They were cold and stuck to her body but she didn't care, she didn't seem to care about anything at all.

"Bonjour Mademoiselle, comment allez vous ce matin?" the man at the front desk cheerly asked.

"J'ai été meilleur…" she said without emotion as she walked out the front door.

The streets of Paris were busy with people, even at this early hour. There were people sitting outside drinking their morning coffee at the small cafes that littered the sidewalks of Paris. Ryoko found herself alone, more alone than she had ever felt in her entire life. She had learned enough French to get buy in the city before she had taken off on her journey. She turned her head and looked over at the Seine, the sun was relflecting off of it and it was the sole reciever of her attention while she stuggled to sort out all of the emotions running throuh her head. When she snapped back to reality after about a hour she finally noticed the uncomfortable feeling which was caused by her wet clothes sticking to her body and the bad smell which they emitted. Even though she only had a limited amoun of money to spend she decided that picking up a new pair of clothes would definitely need to be done.

Ryoko wandered down the streets of Paris in an attempt to find a clothing store that would fit her preference, she did not. She definitely was no accustomed to the syle of clothes which was worn by the western world.

'First time for everything..." she thought to herself as she walked into one of the shops.

A crack of thunder broke the piece of the day and it also broke the concentration of Tenchi as he worked on finishing a puzzle that he had started when he and Ayeka arrived at the house.

"Tenchi!" he looked over just in time to see purple locks of hair make a direct hit against himself and the table where the puzzle was located. Bang...

"Oh Tenchi...I...I'm sorry." Ayeka said from her position atop Tenchi and the now scattered puzzle pieces.

Tenchi looked around and sighed as he noticed the state in which the puzzle was. "It's okay, I can always start it over again." he sat up slowly and held Ayeka in his lap. "Did the thunder frighten you?"

She looked down at the floor and slowly nodded her head.

He smiled to himself...

"Why don't we go over to the couch and just try to relax for the rest of the day?" he said to her softly.

She nodded her head at this idea but flinched as another crack of thunder invaded the air.


End file.
